Educating Students in an Alternative Instructional Setting: An Assessment of Mental Health Consequences

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the mental health consequences of teaching trauma-exposed students in alternative settings. As school district administrators may provide general or common mental health services for teachers, special attention needs to be given and additional programs and supports provided for teachers who teach trauma-exposed students and are regularly exposed directly or indirectly in one way or another to those same traumas. This study aims to bring greater awareness and deeper appreciation regarding the experiences of teachers who teach trauma-exposed students in alternative instructional settings, in hopes that school districts will incorporate more mental health programs and professional developments tailored to promote positive mental health outcomes for this population of teachers. This phenomenological study uses the interview method to investigate the experiences of a set of teachers who teach students in alternative instructional settings who have experiences with trauma. These alternative instructional settings include places where students reside which may be their homes, hospitals, agencies, or other residential facilities. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 male and female teachers who taught trauma-exposed students in grades K-12 in alternative instructional settings in a large urban school district. Data was collected through 10 semi-structured, open-ended interviews with teachers that examined various aspects of their teaching and work experiences, instructional and work environment, student population, and stressful or traumatic events related to their work. Once transcribed using Microsoft Teams, the responses of the interviews were then analyzed. Findings from this study contribute to bringing awareness to the experiences and needs of this population of teachers and how district and school personnel can work to revise current policies and practices to mitigate mental health consequences and improve their mental health outcomes. KEYWORDS: alternative instructional setting, trauma-exposed students, teachers, students, teacher trauma, student trauma, secondary traumatic stress, administrators, impact, alternative education, jail, mental hospital, domestic violence shelter, sexual violence shelter, drug rehabilitation center, education